


Round Two

by MelyndaR



Series: My Ingenious Family series [11]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 11:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 4,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3119180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Its' your turn now." With these words, the lives of the team and two teenagers are turned upside down as Derek maneuvers the toughest mystery he's ever handled - parenthood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the prologue. The story starts in the next chapter.

Standing in the doorway to the living room, knowing Derek hadn't noticed her there yet, she heard him say to her sleeping son, "Your Uncle Reid, I'm gonna teach you how to call him 'Pretty Boy', thought her name was 'Gomez'. She doesn't look like a 'Gomez', does she? 'Garcia' fits her real well. I'd like it best though if she had 'Morgan' somewhere in her name. That way she could confirm to the world that she's mine, my Baby Girl. What do you think?"

"I think that's a great idea." Penelope made herself known, tears blurring her vision. She loved the two people in this room more than anything in the world. "If you actually meant it?"

Derek's head snapped up. "Of course I did. Every word."

"I don't want a proposal," she felt compelled to say. "Those are scary and make me nervous. But I won't do what Reid and Leah did. I want a real wedding. Soon."

Derek beamed and crossed the room in two strides, kissing her soundly.

"Are we engaged?" he asked against her lips.

"Yeah. I guess we are." She backed up and smiled at him. "It took us long enough. There's one more thing you should know, though: I want more kids, not many more, just one or two, but definitely more."

"Good. I want kids too."

 


	2. Chapter 2

May 25, 2012

 _Knock! Knock!_ Derek Morgan paused the football game he'd been watching on television, glad he spent the extra money for the fancier system with such capabilities, and went to answer the door. This late at night, it could only be his fiancée, Penelope Garcia. But no, baby Girl wouldn't want to get her infant son, Rich, out at this late hour.

Derek opened the door anyway, with Clooney at his heels.

Definitely not Baby Girl.

A willowy blonde who's obviously seen better days stood on the other side of the doorway. A young teenager stood at her side. The woman would have been stunningly gorgeous, but the Derek couldn't help but notice the look of steely hatred in her blue eyes. It unnerved him a little.

Oddly enough, the woman seemed familiar, and the girl, the girl looked kinda like him.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

The words were barely out of his mouth before the woman shoved a manila envelope into his chest with one hand, pushing the girl towards him with the other.

"It's your turn now." The woman said harshly. "The proof is in the envelope. If you have questions, call my lawyer. I can't get her to say anything."

With that the woman turned and hurried away - almost ran. Without the girl.

Derek stood there, unsure of what to do, of what to even make of the short, terse speech. But there was still a girl standing outside of his house, waiting to be invited inside, and he still stood there holding the door wide open.

Unable to think of anything else to do, he beckoned the teen, he guessed she was around thirteen, into his house and shut the door behind her. As she looked curiously around his living room, Clooney came out from behind Derek to sniff at the girl's hand.

She smiled and fell to her knees; crooning to the dog in a language Derek had no hope of understanding, not when his brain had turned itself to mush.

Derek flopped onto his couch and opened the manila envelope, tipping it upside down. He looked at the documents that fluttered out with a mixture of horror and disbelief. They stated the girl's name as being Sailor Ann Amsel, thirteen years old, born in Moscow, Russia and having moved to a D.C. boarding school three months earlier. They also testified to the fact the Derek had been named her guardian – and her father.

"Kak yego zovut?" Sailor asked, nodding to Clooney.

She didn't speak English, Derek realized. A wave of uncharacteristic panic hit him. He definitely didn't speak Russian. Then suddenly he had a "light bulb" moment. He flew to his laptop and got to an instant translation program up on the internet.

"Sailor." He said hesitantly.

" _Da?"_

Had she tried calling him "Da"? He entered the monosyllable into the program. Oh, it meant "yes". Okay, this might be time-consuming.

He entered in what he wanted to say and it translated. Then he hit the "listen" button and what he wanted to say came out in Russian.  _Let's see if we can get this to work for us._

She came over, her eyebrows creasing in an unspoken question.

 _An online translator,_ he explained.

Her face lit up with recognition. She motioned to the keyboard, asking for permission to try it. He nodded and she typed in the question she'd asked earlier.  _What's his name?_ She pointed to the dog.

A stupid question under the circumstances, but maybe she needed something to get her mind off the fact that her mother had just abandoned her with him.

"Clooney."

The terrier raised his head upon hearing his name. Sailor repeated, "Clooney." Derek nodded.

"Hi, Clooney." She smiled at the dog.

"You do speak English?" Derek asked.

"A little. Not very good."

_I don't speak any Russian._

_That's okay. This can work. Who is in your photos?_

He looked around the room. There were a lot of photos.  _Which?_  She pointed to one of his mom and sisters. He typed in the answer.

And so went the rest of their night and their weekend. They stayed together by the computer, "talking" about anything and everything that came to mind. She learned about him and he learned about her; her school, she made a passing mention of her friends (frien _d_  according to her), her interests and hobbies, what she liked and disliked.

On Sunday night, she asked him, " _When can I meet Penelope?"_

He stared at the question on the computer screen as it dawned on him that he had no place to take her tomorrow while he was at work. He took a deep breath and typed his answer.  _You'll have to come with me to work tomorrow. You'll meet them all then._


	3. Chapter 3

Sailor took everything in as she followed her dad into the heart of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, the bullpen.

Sailor's mom, Jena Amsel, had been wrong, and much to Sailor's surprise, she had convinced Derek Morgan, one of her one-night stands, of the same lie. Sailor could speak English quite fluently, when she was in the mood for it. She just wasn't in the mood very often though.

Sailor was surprised he hadn't thought of any of it over the weekend. She supposed, though, that if she had had a teenage girl, the daughter she didn't even know she had, dropped on her doorstep late at night, she wouldn't have been thinking very clearly either.

Derek led her to his desk and motioned for her to take his seat. She did, noting the curious stares of his teammates.

He seemed to be debating something. He looked towards a woman with black hair, sitting at her desk with her eyebrows arched in curiosity at him. Seeing her stare, he looked quickly, guiltily, away. Then he looked at a young man, who looked younger then he had to be. This man watched him too. Again, Derek looked away.

Then she saw the inspired look in his eye, the same as when he'd gotten the idea to use the computer translator. He indicated that Sailor should follow him and he jogged up to a hangover above the main floor with Sailor at his heels. He stopped and knocked on the door of an office that the sign on it said was "Agent L. Prentiss-Reid, media liaison"'s."

"Entrare." A woman, presumably Agent Prentiss-Reid, called out.

Derek opened the door, motioning for Sailor to come into the office behind him, and then shut the door.

"Who's this?" Agent Prentiss-Reid asked.

"Okay, before you freak out, she doesn't speak English very well, and apparently she wouldn't talk at all before I got her. So be nice."

"Okay. That doesn't answer my question."

Derek looked at the other agent's obviously, even extraordinarily, pregnant mid-section, seeming to second-guess his choice of a confidant. "Promise you won't throw something at me, like that." He pointed to the stapler sitting in plain sight on her desk.

"Derek Morgan, I haven't had mood swings yet, and I don't intend to start. If in the case that I do have mood swings, I'm unleashing that wrath on Spencer, not you." She cocked her head at him, her eyes sparkling with inspired orneriness. "I might just fake it to see if I can get away with it. Anyway, what can I do for you? Do you need a translator? How did you even get her to come with you if she can't speak any English?"

"She can, a little any way. And she's here because, well, she's on summer vacation from her boarding school in D.C. Her name's Sailor Amsel. She's a thirteen year old deportee from Moscow, Russia. And, well, kinda the daughter I didn't know existed."

The woman stared at Derek for a long time in silence, and Sailor swore she saw her glance at the stapler as if she were in fact tempted to throw it at him. Then she took a deep breath and asked, "You said she speaks Russian?"

Derek nodded meekly.

Agent Prentiss-Reid came to stand in front of Sailor.

" _Ciao,_ Sailor _. Sono_ Leah Prentiss-Reid _."_

"Nice to meet you." Sailor spoke clearly, the English slipping from her tongue with ease that surprised even her. She didn't often speak in it unless her friend from school made her do so.

"Lei è inglese è molto buono." Leah praised.

"Thanks. I've worked hard to become fluent in it."

Sailor relished the confusion in the two agents', profilers' even, faces.

"You said you weren't fluent in it." Derek stated, his eyes asking for an explanation.

Sailor shrugged, answering. "It was an experiment. Kind of like the movie 'What the Deaf Man Heard.'"

Derek looked confused. Leah looked impressed.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to the rest of your teammates now?" Sailor looked up at her dad, eyes wide with innocence.

He shook his head in what Sailor could only guess was disgust, at who she wasn't sure though. "Not really." Was his answer.

"Why not?"

"We had an experience something like this in December, and he probably doesn't want to face me or my mother right now." Leah explained for him. "I'll do it, if you want." She offered Derek.

"No." he answered. "Could you - can you just go get Penelope?"

"Sure." She answered, slipping out of her office.

As Sailor followed Derek and Leah out, they passed A. Hotchner's office, and she saw a familiar face inside the office.

"Declan!" she called out, thrilled to see her best friend.


	4. Chapter 4

Declan Prentiss's head snapped up from his summer reading book. He was sitting in his adopted father's office, trying to get the list of summer reading books finished. So far, "Because of Winn-Dixie" just wasn't making for an interesting day. He should probably give it past the first chapter though before passing judgment.

Had he heard Sailor calling his name? Surely not.

"Who was that?" his dad asked, looking up from his paperwork.

Declan shrugged, set aside his book, and opened up the door of the office. Sailor was standing right outside, eyes wide. She dove for him, hugging him so hard he thought she might be trying to break his ribs. She wasn't the type for PDA of any sort and he was momentarily caught off guard.

"Sailor! Hi!"

She just kept right on rib-crushing.

Declan noticed that they were attracting stares. Lots of them. Most were curious, but Agent Morgan and Leah both looked absolutely dumb-founded.

"Sail, breath. Breathe. I gotta. I gotta breathe." Declan finally gasped.

"Oh!" She jumped back. She shrunk into herself a little, realizing that she'd just hugged him in front of a whole lot of strangers. "Don't call me 'Sail.' What are you doing here?"

"This is where my parents work."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Declan shrugged. "People think it's weird that they adopted me when they find out about their jobs." She accepted the answer, letting his reference to his biological parents slide. "Hey, what are YOU doing here?"

"I, uh, um. I found my dad. Actually my mom found my dad, and kinda dumped me in his lap."

"He works here?"

She nodded.

"Weird. Neat, but weird."

Another nod. He noticed tears in the corners of her eyes. Good or bad ones?

Before he could comment, Morgan spoke up. "You know him? You know her?"

Both nodded. Declan was confused, and he said so.

"Derek, um," Sailor answered. "Weeeell, as it turns out, he's my dad."

Declan opened and closed his mouth - the thought crossed his mind that he probably looked like a fish out of water - completely unsure of how to answer. Penelope saved him from having to do so.

"Derek."

Morgan swung around to look at Penelope on the level beneath him. "Yeah, Baby Girl?" He looked very anxious.

"It's about time."


	5. Chapter 5

"What?" Morgan had obviously been expecting any possible response but that.

"I'm a tech goddess, Derek. I do a little snooping from time to time. Sailor's birth certificate came up once, back when I first started in the Bureau."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I assumed you knew, and just didn't want to tell anyone, so, being as it was years ago and I wasn't as comfortable with my chocolate god of thunder as I am now, I never approached you about it. Leah only told me just now that you didn't know. I was going to ask you about it soon though, I promise. Are you mad at me?"

Morgan considered this honestly for a moment before answering. "No."

Garica broke into a grin. "Good. And if it makes you feel any better, I knew about Girl Genius long before she knew about us."

Leah arched her eyebrows. She had!

"And I knew about Girl Genius and Boy Genius."

What exactly did she know about "Girl Genius and Boy Genius"?

"And I knew about Declan and Sailor."

"What about Declan and Sailor?" Morgan asked.

"You know how Reid and Leah say they were during her college? Attached at the hip? Yeah. Well, you know what? I'll let you profilers figure that out all on your own. Now, Miss Sailor, come down here so I can have a better look at you. I'm Penelope Garcia, by the way. Derek's fiancée."

Sailor looked over at Declan with a trace of fear in her eyes. The entire team had gathered to watch the show by now. Sailor grabbed Declan's hand tightly, and Leah noticed the minute movement of him squeezing back.

"She won't bite." Declan assured. "Come on."

He led her down the stairs. It was obvious that she was a little overwhelmed. They stopped in front of Garcia.

Leah turned towards the sound of her husband's voice as Spencer Reid demanded, "Morgan, what's going on?"

Leah thought he all ready had an inkling.

"She's my daughter, with a woman from Moscow that I hadn't seen before Friday night since the day when Sailor was – you know."

"Conceived." Leah supplied, rolling her eyes.

She watched Sailor and Declan out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah. And I. Didn't. Know. I want that in bold print. I didn't. I…" He trailed off.

"We get it." Leah's mom, Emily Prentiss, spoke up.

Morgan shot his partner a small, grateful smile. "That's it I guess. That's all folks."

He walked back to the ground level and sat down at his desk. The others followed his lead. Garcia invited Sailor and Declan to come watch a movie in the lair. They agreed, and Garcia and Sailor headed back to the lair, Declan following after retrieving his book from Hotch's office.


	6. Chapter 6

Declan settled back onto the couch in Penelope's lair beside Sailor. "So, what's wrong, Sail?" He bumped his shoulder against hers, a gentle prodding to talk to him.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

She rolled her eyes, though he could tell her heart wasn't really in it, and switched to Russian, not wanting Penelope to understand, apparently. " _I'm scared and homesick. I want to go home. To Moscow. Dad - He's huge, Declan. Scary even. And I'm not too sure about her."_ She glanced at Penelope.

"Derek Morgan  _is not scary. He's great with kids. Being huge is a plus, not a minus. Did you know he used to play football – American football, though. And he's always the one to break down doors like the cops on the TV. Mom told me so. As for her, the tech goddess, she's the sweetest person on this team, in this building even. You know she has a son?"_

Sailor nodded.

" _I guess I just mean, give them a chance. Get to know them. That's what I had to do and Leah too."_

" _Okay. For you."_

" _Thank you."_

"And don't call me 'Sail'."

Declan laughed.

"I'm glad you're here, Declan."

"I'm glad you're here too." He added as a stress-relieving after-thought, "You saved me from a day of 'Winn-Dixie'."

Sailor laughed.


	7. Chapter 7

Spencer Reid watched out of the corner of his eye as Declan coaxed Sailor towards the table in the kitchenette where the team was eating their lunch. She dragged back and dug her heels into the slick tile. That didn't help her case. Irritation flashed across Declan's face before he picked her up and she squealed.

Morgan's head snapped up from his sandwich to look at them. Spencer smiled as a sweet sense of déjà vu came over him. He looked at Leah. She was watching them, a small smile on her lips. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Déjà vu?" Spencer asked.

Leah nodded.

Declan dropped Sailor in the seat beside her father and took the one behind her.

"I said I wanted to finish the movie!" Sailor whined.

"Are you whining? In a building full of FBI agents? In front of your dad?" Declan asked.

"I have a right to whine every once and a while. I'm a deportee from Europe who practically didn't even have parents before this week."

Spencer blinked in surprise as he heard himself say, "You poor little girl", with a load of sarcasm.

"What do you know?" Sailor snapped.

Spencer put his tongue in his cheek. He had definitely had this discussion before. It didn't end well then, but this was a second chance, so he was going to take it.

"I know that you probably know what to say to get Declan to shut up, for one."

"That didn't work, did it?"

"Because," Spencer spoke up. "He's doing what's best for you, even if you don't like it."

Sailor crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him and not answering. She'd probably heard it all before, but he'd startled her and they both knew it. He just gave her a timid grin and went back to his salad.

He saw Leah shaking her head out of the corner of his eye, that same knowing smile on her lips.

"What's so funny?" Sailor turned her venom onto his wife now.

"Nothing, I guess. He's not going to pity you though, so don't even try."

"And you know that because…?" Declan asked.

Leah licked her lips before answering. "I've been that European deportee with no parents, and he's been the guy pulling me out of my pity party. That was pretty much us all through my college. Hanging out, being best friends, and giving out some heaping helpings of tough love to each other when it was necessary. You hate him sometimes, don't you, Sailor?"

She didn't answer.

"But you sure can't imagine your life without him." Leah finished.

Sailor nodded. "That about sums it up."

Leah laughed.

"So, are you guys the same still?" Sailor asked hesitantly.

"Nope." Leah smiled like a Cheshire cat and finished, "He's my husband, now."

Sailor and Declan looked towards each other, both biting their lips. A question seemed to pass between them. Declan shook his head, a movement so small it was almost unnoticeable.

Sailor teased in Russian. " _I thought you said he wasn't scary."_

Declan cringed.

Well that was certainly interesting. Leah burst out laughing. Emily looked between the four of them with her eyebrows arched.

"Do I want to know?" she asked.

"Leah lied on the plane, about the Christmas kiss." Spencer answered calmly.

" _I am getting some serious déjà vu."_ Leah said in Russian.


	8. Chapter 8

Friday, June 1, 2012

Sailor had been with them for a week all ready. This realization hit Penelope as she looked at her calendar in her lair. She really loved the teenage girl like a daughter, and Sailor loved her back, she'd even told Penelope so. They had been talking on Tuesday about Sailor's mother, about how easy it had seemingly been for Jena Amsel to drop her on Derek's doorstep and run – literally.

At that point, Penelope did the one thing she could think to do for the girl. She sent a text to Emily and the dark-haired agent had come in.

In the middle of the heart-felt conversation that followed, Sailor had sent her own text without Emily's' knowledge. Leah had showed up in the lair a minute later, keeping out of her mother's sight to listen.

All four of them had been crying by the end of that conversation. Sailor had warmed up to the rest of the team and opened up to them after that.

At the end of that work day, Penelope had seen Emily come up to Sailor and thank her, saying she couldn't have actually told Leah to her face any of what she had told Sailor. She'd quietly told Sailor to take advantage of the time she had with her "parents". To give Penelope a chance. Sailor had promised Emily that she would.

And she had.

So Sailor slid into her own groove in the BAU family, and in a prized position, the position of Sailor's mother, Penelope stood proud and happy.


	9. Chapter 9

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Derek squirmed as he waited for his daughter to get home. Beside him, Penelope laughed at him.

"Not sitting still won't get her here any quicker."

"Take your own advice."

She couldn't sit still either. Around them, the rest of the team waited with them for Sailor to come back from a movie with Declan and the geniuses.

It was Sailor's birthday, and they had put together a quick surprise party. So now they were waiting for them to get back.

To occupy his mind, Derek thought back to his conversation with his mother and sisters the previous day, to telling them about Sailor. It had originally been less then pleasant.

His sisters had cried when he'd told them. That had made him feel guilty.

Mama hadn't said anything for the longest time. The first words out of her mouth were, "I'm so disappointed in you, Derek."

He would've preferred a bullet to hearing her say that.

He had quickly explained everything, and in the end they had came around and had offered to help them out however they could. None of them had been able to make it for the party, though.

He was disappointed. She was so much like them.

"Their coming!" JJ called out.

Everybody but Derek, Penelope, and Rich dove to hide. Sailor opened the front door, looking around curiously.

"Dad?" she asked cautiously.

Those that were hiding burst from their spots. "SURPRISE!"

She shrieked, jumping to cling to Declan.

Realizing what was going on, she exclaimed, "I thought you'd all forgotten!"

Seeing various offended looks around her, she burst out laughing.

Derek was certain he'd never heard a sweeter sound.


	10. Chapter 10

Leah watched as Sailor worked her way down to the last of her birthday presents. Down to the present Declan had gotten for her.

Sailor smiled when she got down to it and said to Declan, "It's too far away for me to reach."

Declan looked from Sailor to it and back with raised eyebrows. She just had to lean forward to be able to reach it.

"Farm boy, fetch it for me. Please."

Leah's eyes widened and she looked over at her husband. They both recognized the reference from "The Princess Bride". A smile pulled at the corners of Spencer's mouth.

Declan grabbed the small box and handed it to her with the proper response and a loving smile. "As you wish."

Leah barely contained a laugh. Morgan noticed.

"What? What'd I miss?"

"Nothing of consequence." Leah answered calmly. Another something from "The Princess Bride."

Declan and Sailor looked at her carefully.

"Your secret's safe with us." Leah promised them, waving a hand at Spencer to indicate that he understood too.

"What secret?" Morgan asked, looking completely bewildered by now.

"Like I said," Leah repeated. "Nothing of consequence."

Sailor proceeded to open her gift. A jewelry box. She opened it and pulled out a slender silver chain. On the end of the chain there swung a small, white flower charm.

Leah recognized it as an acacia blossom. Her eyebrows rose as she glanced at that same flower engraved on her bracelet that served as a wedding ring. It stood for a concealed and chaste love.

Leah looked at Morgan to see what he thought of it. He might remember what it meant from her bracelet. He looked amused.

"You saw this coming, right?" He asked her.

"Pretty much."

Sailor looked at Declan, understanding the meaning behind the charm. "Put it on me? Farm boy? Please?"

Declan took the necklace carefully as Sailor swept her brown curls up off of her neck. He moved behind her and moved the necklace so that the charm lay against her front.

"As you wish."


	11. Chapter 11

July 4, 2012

Sailor looked up with sparkling eyes at the bright display of lights exploding in the sky. She sat on a blanket with Declan and the geniuses.

"You know," Leah said, leaning to lie back against Reid. "My first Independence Day was the first day I really felt patriotic. Proud to be an American."

"I know what you mean." Sailor whispered.

"As I recall, it was a first for something else too." Reid smiled down at his wife.

Sailor rested her head on Declan's shoulder. "What else?"

"My first kiss." Leah answered.

"Who was he?" Declan asked.

Spencer looked surprised by the question. "You should know the answer to that. After all, I can only assume you've all ready passed that milestone."

"No." Sailor and Declan answered together. It was the truthful answer too.

"Hm." Leah looked amused.

Reid pointed to Sailor's head on Declan's shoulder. "You see what she's doing there?"

Declan nodded.

"Do you know what that means?"

Declan nodded again.

"What?" Sailor asked. Nobody answered her. "What does it mean? Somebody let me know."

Declan tilted her head up so that she looked him in the eyes. "As you wish, Highness."

And then he was kissing her. Sweet and gentle. It was everything she'd always dreamed, but it was so effortless, so right, that it was almost nothing.

When he pulled away, she knew her eyes were wide. That had been a pleasant surprise.

"That's what it means." Declan whispered.

Sailor nodded wordlessly. She turned back to the fireworks display, realizing there was a very good chance that her parents or his were watching them. When she thought no one was looking, she raised a trembling hand to carefully touch her lips. Oh, wow.

Leah began to softly sing the chorus of one of her favorite songs.

"When I think about you, I think about seventeen  
I think about my old jeep, I think about the stars in  
the sky  
Funny how the melody sounds like a memory,  
Like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night.  
Springsteen."

Now Sailor understood why she liked the song so much. They all knew that this night would be emblazoned in Sailor's memory for the rest of her life. She liked that idea very much.

Declan reached out and held her hand. She intertwined her fingers with his and leaned against him, marveling at how right it felt.

Not just Declan, but all of them. All of the team: her dad, Penelope and Rich, Leah and Reid, all of them. For the first time, possibly in her life, she felt honestly and completely at home.

Contentment filled her and a smile stretched across her lips. She leaned against Declan. This was a good life.


End file.
